Justgotohm
Super Member
I love a fast wagon, Ibp or Ipb makes a large selection of Volvo performance accessories.
Agreed....there were no overdrive trannies back then....both the 4-speed manual and TH-400 auto had a 1;00 to 1 top gear....even with a 3.08 rear, you`d be RPM-limited to right around 130-135 mph....
Bill. Harrowing to say the least. And why certain conditions involving my normal use of one handed steering make me tend to be conservative. I drive with hand controls, and I love keeping it between the ditches. Losing a steering knob on Highway 129 on the Dragon taught me respect for my limitations on steering in a hurry. And that's strong upper body me in a little old high miles 1991 Honda Civic DX.
I love a fast wagon, Ibp or Ipb makes a large selection of Volvo performance accessories.
Thanks Kent, it was different and very scary being on a bridge at that.. Yeah !! Found my stupid hat at that moment and put it on !!
I remember driving on another bridge(but this time the bridge was a opposite direction 2 lane !!) in my 1987 Astro van bringing groceries back to my dad`s house one afternoon years ago and was driving in a bad ass rain storm and the original heavy duty legal steering wheel knob straps broke !!
I could have soiled myself, but managed to drop the knob and grab the steering wheel without incident..
Just got internet back @ 11:00 AM this morning from Irma`s PMS episode, and trying to catchup on all the e-mails from my concerned friends/contacts, and finally had a chance to check in on A/K.
Take care Mr. Kent.
Kind regards, OKB
I gotta agree with the evaluation on the Olds. I had the Buick version, a "70 Buick GS Stage 1. Had all the Hurst package stuff as well. It was a great car and fun in a straight line. Not much could top it on the quarter after a little bit of work. But at around 120 my friends 350 Nova could walk past me. It was heavy and I was running the 4:11 rear end. Nothing wrong with admitting the truth.
That sounds like he worked the motor a bit. Thing is those luxury cars with big motors, especially from GM, would run fast on the highway and had high third member gears, high meaning small number, 2.71:1, something like that. Riviera's and Toronados of the high compression days were highway fast, the Buick had the GS version which had the dual quads. They would light up the tires too causing the transmission to upshift too soon, had to hold it in low if excess wheel spin.Used to have the opposite situation where I grew up.
There was an old black man, who had a 1965 Buick Riviera- I think it was actually a Super Wildcat (dual 4 barrel 425). And even though it had "stock" sounding exhaust- I don't believe it was stock. I'd guess that the old man had once probably used it as a moonshine-runner car, at some time in the past.
Like most Buicks- it was geared for highway use. Probably a 2-something ratio differential.
The kids with their hot-rod Novas and Mustangs and such, would cajole the old guy to come race. He would usually not say anything at first- but when he did- he always insisted that they race for an ENTIRE MILE, and not anything shorter.
They'd take off- and sure enough, the Nova/Mustang or whatever, would just run off and hide for the first quarter mile.
At about the half mile- they'd see the headlights of that Buick, coming up FAST.
And when he came around- many of the people who raced him, said the air blast off his car, nearly blew them into the ditch.
Most of those "hot rods" had 4.11:1 or even shorter (4.56:1 and such) differentials- they would be absolutely floating their valves and ignition points at 115-120MPH.
120MPH, was just where the Buick was getting into the meat of the torque curve. With that dual-quad 425, it would pull to over 150MPH, if given enough space.
One of my Dad's friends who was a sheriff's deputy, said that they BELIEVED that it was that old man in that Buick, that they clocked at 161MPH, one night. Of course, no one even came CLOSE to catching him, so they were never sure.
I do know, that one night, I saw that Buick sitting at a roadside country store- and you could see the exhaust GLOWING RED under the car. He ran that thing to absolutely everything it would do...
Regards,
Gordon.
One of several cars that I should have NEVER let go of:
My `66 Grand Prix, which had a very rare option list. It had a 421 High Output engine, 4-speed manual trans (!), 3.42 Posi 12-bolt, those nice 8-lug finned wheels, heavy duty suspension, cooling system, you name it.
It moved out extremely well for such a big boat, showing it`s taillights to many "muscle cars".
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